


Music to My Ears

by breeeliss



Series: Tumblr Ficlets [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Highly-Amused Marinette, Not-So-Subtle Chloe, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-11-02 08:56:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10941171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breeeliss/pseuds/breeeliss
Summary: Chloe would come into the bakery when Marinette was working and ask her to rattle off all that she knew about their pastries, breads, cakes, rush orders, and catering plans. But it wasn’t until last week that Marinette had finally picked up on the obvious.Chloe came just to hear Marinette talk.(based on a prompt from tumblr!)





	Music to My Ears

**Author's Note:**

> based on the following tumblr prompt: Chloe coming into the Dupain-Cheng bakery specifically when Marinette's on cash register duty and asks the names of pastries she already knows but just wants to hear Marinette talk, and eventually Marinette catches on but does nothing because she enjoys talking to Chloe

Sabine smirked as she pulled a tray of croissants from the oven. “Marinette. I think your favorite customer is here.”

Marinette finished tying her apron behind her back and was pulling her hair up and away from her face as she got ready for her register shift. “Who now?”

Sabine jutted her chin towards the front of the bakery and Marinette followed her gaze, allowing herself a sigh and a small smirk when she saw who was meandering near the counter. “Stop teasing, maman.”

“It’s not teasing,” Sabine said. “She comes only on the days when you’re working and seems rather _enchanted_  with all of our palmier flavors. Moreso than anyone else I’ve ever seen…”

“Oh hush, maman!” Marinette blushed, gently tapping her mother’s shoulder. “It’s nothing like that.”

“Don’t keep the poor thing waiting,” Sabine smiled as she carried the croissants to the counters in the back. “She must be eager to see you if she came right when your shift started.”

Marinette puffed her cheeks out and headed to the counter where Chloe Bourgeois was waiting, leaving her mother laughing and grinning behind her. 

It started when Chloe had to come into the bakery to order a huge commission of mini-cupcakes for a dinner she and her father were holding. Because Chloe _loved_ being difficult, Marinette had to take out all of their sample books, explain all of their flavors, all of their frostings, all of their fillings, and all of their options for garnishes for close to twenty-five minutes before Chloe was satisfied. Marinette thought Chloe was making her explain herself so much for the sake of being annoying until she came in the next day asking for detailed descriptions of all the chocolate cakes they had on display for no other reason aside from her being “curious about your selection of dark chocolates.” Marinette’s father was too close by at the time for her to tell Chloe to buzz off, so she humored her for twenty minutes before Chloe settled with just buying a regular old palmier and _left_  without buying a single cake. 

It was maddening, and for the next couple of weeks Chloe would come into the bakery when Marinette was working and ask her to rattle off all that she knew about their pastries, breads, cakes, rush orders, and catering plans….only to leave without having bought anything she had shown such a deep interest in. 

It was ridiculous to think Chloe had a passion for baked goods, otherwise she’d bother her parents about this. It wasn’t as if Chloe was using this as an opportunity to make fun of Marinette seeing how she was oddly quiet and attentive whenever Marinette spoke. It wasn’t until last week that Marinette had finally picked up on the obvious. 

Chloe came just to hear Marinette talk. 

By all accounts it made no sense at first, but by now Marinette was convinced. When Chloe thought that Marinette wasn’t looking, she’d cradle her cheek in her hand, smile gently, and seem to daydream through Marinette’s explanations, only to be abruptly pulled out of the mood when Marinette teasingly stopped in the middle of her sentences to catch Chloe in the act. Marinette wasn’t quite sure what to think of it all – what was so interesting about her talking anyway? – but it was one of the few moments where Chloe wasn’t opening her mouth to be annoying, and Marinette rather liked talking to Chloe when she had nothing irritating to shoot back. 

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Marinette greeted, pulling her baby hairs behind her ears. “Just hopped onto my shift.”

Chloe sniffed and lifted her chin. “Well, at least you apologized.”

Marinette snorted and leaned her elbows on the counter. “What can I help you with?”

Chloe drummed her manicured nails on the countertop and pointed to the glass cases on the opposite wall. “I was….interested in hearing what macaron flavors you had available. I _might_  be interested in making an order…” 

Marinette smirked, looked up at the ceiling, and counted in her head. “We have around…..oh, I’d say fifteen to choose from. Is there a particular flavor you like? We can start from there.”

Chloe shrugged. “Well, it’ll honestly be better if you just told me all of them so I can objectively pick the best one. I trust my own judgement over yours.”

“All of them?” Marinette clarified. “That might take a while. I wouldn’t want to waste your time…”

Chloe crossed her arms. “Well, I’m the customer, aren’t I? If I request something, aren’t you supposed to do what I say?”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Alright, alright. Come to the display cases, I’ll go through all the flavors with you.”

She started rattling off all the macaron flavors they offered off the top of her head, making sure to really go overboard and go into detail about the textures of the different pastries. She wasn’t sure if Chloe was absorbing any of this, but boy was she _listening_. It was so strange to see a girl who was so normally happy to make a snippy comment at her during school literally hang off her every word in a setting like this with no one but the two of them around. It was…oddly sweet. And d _efinitely_ fascinating. That kind of fascinating that made you want to push things further or read into things more just because you’re curious to see where things go. 

Marinette wondered if she could push Chloe just a little bit. 

It took close to fifteen minutes to get through it all – Chloe kept interrupting her and asking her to repeat almost everything, something Marinette found amusing and was more than happy to do – but Marinette finally took a big breath and turned to Chloe. 

“So. Anything you’d be interested in getting?”

Chloe bit her lip, stared at the display cases, and looked down at her phone. “Um…a-actually I changed my mind, I don’t think I’ll take any today. Was just curious is all.”

Yup. Same thing she did every other time she came here. But Marinette wasn’t going to let her leave just yet. “Are you sure? I can give you a small order of ones I think you’d like. Free of charge!”

Chloe blinked. “What? Why?”

“My treat,” Marinette shrugged, pulling out serving gloves from her apron and slipping one onto her right hand. “If you want, I can pick a flavor that I think you’d like.”

“You seriously don’t have to do that,” Chloe insisted, eyeing the door. “I’ve gotta go anyway.”

Marinette reached out, grabbed Chloe’s elbow, and noted with interest how Chloe seemed to straighten up suddenly at the touch. “Relax,” she chuckled. “It’s on the house, I promise. Just take it. Now do you have a preference?”

Chloe rubbed the back of her neck. “Not really….”

Marinette hummed and turned to the display cases. “I think you’d like the milk and honey ones. Sort of remember you saying you loved honey at one point.”

Chloe snorted. “And you say you never pay attention to a word I say.”

“I don’t pay attention to you when you don’t have anything worth listening to,” Marinette teased, laughing at the sight of Chloe’s nose scrunching up in anger. “But when it’s important? I’m probably paying attention…”

“You’re more annoying than you realize, you know that?”

“You don’t seem to mind.”

Chloe stayed quiet when Marinette packed up a small box of six milk and honey macarons and tied off the top with string, not bothering to ring up the price (she’d take it out of her allowance later). “There you go,” Marinette smiled. “You’re all set. Let me know what you think of them, okay? I can ask Papa to make more tomorrow.”

Chloe furrowed her brows, looking genuinely confused. “ _Why?”_

 _“_ You’re a loyal customer,” Marinette shrugged. “You come in all the time, it’d be rude of me to not offer you complementary sweets. Customer’s always right, and all that.”

“Well,” Chloe decided, “I guess you can count me impressed that you’d actually go through the effort. Didn’t think customer service was your thing.”

“I’m full of surprises,” Marinette winked. “Just come back if you ever want something else. Or if you want me to run through the menu…. _again_.”

Chloe took the box from Marinette and she held herself back from laughing in pure _delight_  at the sight of Chloe’s ears going red. “S-Shut up! I like to stay an informed shopper! Sue me!”

Marinette held up both her hands. “Okay, okay. No harm done. I’m happy to do it. Not all the time you get customers who are so curious.”

Chloe looked off to the side, refusing to look Marinette in the face. “Well. Thanks. I guess.”

“Hope you enjoy those!” Marinette said as she walked back behind the counter to double check the cash in the register. “There are always fourteen more flavors for you to try if you don’t like them.”

“Helpful as ever, Dupain-Cheng,” Chloe snorted. She backed up against the door and pushed it open with an elbow. “I….guess I’ll see you around.”

“Come back soon,” Marinette waved. 

Marinette waited a few beats for Chloe to walk down the other end of the block before she pulled her phone out of her apron and dialed Alya. 

“Hey!” Marinette greeted when she picked up. “Random question. Do you still have Chloe’s number from that time you two were paired up for a history presentation?”

“ _Um, yeah?”_  Alya answered. “ _Why do you need Chloe’s number though?”_

 _“_ Nothing important,” Marinette promised. “Just testing out a theory…”

* * *

By the time Chloe got home with her order of macarons – the order that Marinette gave her totally for free without any prompting and with a _stunning_  smile on her face and _oh my God_  – she felt her phone buzz in her pocket and saw a text from an unsaved number. 

When she unlocked her phone, she felt her heart hiccup into her throat. 

> **unknown:** hey it’s marinette! im gonna call you in a sec, but let it go to voicemail ok?

“What is that weirdo _doing?”_ Chloe squinted, trying to remember if there was anyway that Marinette could’ve possible gotten her number. Then again, the day was already weird enough as it is with Marinette being so nice to her today that it wouldn’t hurt to play along. She saved Marinette’s contact, declined her incoming phone call, and waited for the notification of a new voicemail to flash onto her screen. 

Chloe frowned, selected the voicemail, and held it up to her ear. 

> _Hey Chloe! It’s Marinette. I know this is kind of weird leaving you a message like this, but something tells me that you’d rather me talk to you than text you. Just so you know, you don’t have to come to the bakery all the time to talk to me. You have my number now. Feel free to call anytime if you want to just chat. Or, you know, if you want me to run through step-by-step on how to bake a croissant. I’m happy to do that too! Anyway, uh…hope you liked the macarons! Maybe next time I can bake some for you myself. See you in class!_

The voicemail ended, and Chloe felt all the heat in her body flowing straight to her cheeks. She sunk down on her bed, buried her face into one of her pillows, and screamed out of embarrassment, shock, excitement and about four other sensations she couldn’t be bothered to tease out at the moment. 

Chloe turned back to her phone and made sure to save the voicemail. 

She was pretty sure she was going to be playing it back  _a lot_  this week.


End file.
